Longtime friends Fritz Petersen and Tim Wicklund formed Ifing in 2010. The band's name is taken from the great river in Norse mythology which separates the realms of the gods and giants (taken from the Bandcamp page). Given the circumstances and the fact one of my all time favorite band, Moonsorrow, was mentioned in their biography I was beyond stoked about this brand new band. Another positive thing was that Blood Music had signed them in their roster, they can do no wrong in their signings.
How about the music? The Stream which is available on Blood Music's Bandcamp site displays all the elements why you need to hear and own this album: it has a perfect balance between folk and pagan black metal. There are pipes and flutes, blastbeats and to my ear that manly, rich and authentic pagan metal atmosphere. Fortunately these guys take their time on carving the best riffs and setting the mood on the songs as there were supposedly no great constraints from the label, allowing the closing song, Realms Forged, to linger over 18 minutes. Personally I simply love this monumental song as it keeps you focused during its entire duration and take you from one emotion to another.
If you love Moonsorrow or late Windir, I am pretty certain you can jump on this without hesitation. The only gripe I have is that the total duration of the album is only 35+ minutes, but that doesn't take away the fact that the music is awesome and looking at my playcount the replay value is highly elevated.
https://www.facebook.com/Ifing.Official
Woman Is The Earth: Depths (Init Records)
Woman Is The Earth (I simply adore this nameplay) hails from Black Hills, South Dakota and has been formed in 2007. I was introduced to them by a friend from Last.Fm music network a few years back and lately been listening to them a lot. Especially finding their own Bandcamp page and label's, Init Records, has given me the opportunity to support the band directly.
Depths is the third full-length in their career and published by Init Records. I would probably label it under EP as the duration is just over 24 minutes, but like I have stated before it doesn't really matter as long as the music is this awesome. There are several comparisons to Wolves In The Throne Room in their music and I feel they are justified but I can still find elements clearly separating the bands from each other. WITE offers you atmospheric black metal where the main focus is entire flow of the song concentrating on furious riffing and painting the atmosphere. While the songs are within ten minute mark, they offer plenty of variation and breaks which is one of the reasons you want to return to this album.
Lluvia: Eternidad Solemne Promo (Fallen Empire Records)
Lluvia is project of Lord Vast (ex-Wylve) and stand for rain in Spanish. They are signed on Fallen Empire Records and since they so graciously offer their discography on name your price on Bandcamp, I decided to jump on this offer. It didn't take long for me to realize I'd be spending some quality time with this band in the weeks to come as it hit my sweet spot hard: everything I have come to love in atmospheric black metal are there: the lengthy songs, the furious tremolo riffing, raw and passionate vocals, that logo which is unreadable, the black and white and cover art, the completely absurd (and usually unpronounceable) band member name and lastly amazing music.
Los Ultimos Rayos Del Sol (translated The last rays of the sun) is taken from the upcoming LP Eternidad Solemne and gives you a stellar preview and a stormwarning from Mexico. The song picks up almost immediately and for the first nine times pretty much destroys you completely and while you are done, there's a five minute Burzumish outro which leaves you wandering in the winter night forest alone. Highly recommended for fans of atmospheric black metal.
Lvthn: Adversarialism Demo (Fallen Empire Records)
Lvthn is another great discovery from Fallen Empire Records roster. Not much information is available from this act from Belgium, but I didn't find them on Facebook and they stated that Adversarialism was recorded already a year ago but now it has been given a proper vinyl treatment.
Musically Lvthn plays straightforward and fast black metal with a subtle hint of death metal. What appeals me the most is the great riffing both songs offer: they twist your neck, pump blood back into your veins and carve that air-guitarist from deep within. It is like an oncoming blizzard that swallows you whole and once you are grasping for that last breath of fresh air, you will find redemption in the final hour.
Eos: L'Avalé Demo (Fallen Empire Records)
EOS hails from Québec, Canada and ends my journey on Fallen Empire Records this time. L'Avalé is the demo first demo and they participated in the sampler "SVN OKKLT" which can be downloaded here. Not much information is offered about this mysterious band other than the letters G.. K. and V. as band members.
L'Avalé offers 33 minutes of raw and atmospheric black metal. These guys take their time and build songs slowly from medium paced to full blast and focus on building what seem to be fragile soundscapes at first only to be later destroyed by full scale black metal attack. The songs offer plenty of variation and subtle moments and the shadow play between different moods keep the listener focused and intrigued. Somehow I find similarities in production and vocals to Peste Noire and that is never a bad thing. Highly recommended for open-minded black metal enthusiasts.
Lluvia is project of Lord Vast (ex-Wylve) and stand for rain in Spanish. They are signed on Fallen Empire Records and since they so graciously offer their discography on name your price on Bandcamp, I decided to jump on this offer. It didn't take long for me to realize I'd be spending some quality time with this band in the weeks to come as it hit my sweet spot hard: everything I have come to love in atmospheric black metal are there: the lengthy songs, the furious tremolo riffing, raw and passionate vocals, that logo which is unreadable, the black and white and cover art, the completely absurd (and usually unpronounceable) band member name and lastly amazing music.
Los Ultimos Rayos Del Sol (translated The last rays of the sun) is taken from the upcoming LP Eternidad Solemne and gives you a stellar preview and a stormwarning from Mexico. The song picks up almost immediately and for the first nine times pretty much destroys you completely and while you are done, there's a five minute Burzumish outro which leaves you wandering in the winter night forest alone. Highly recommended for fans of atmospheric black metal.
Lvthn: Adversarialism Demo (Fallen Empire Records)
Lvthn is another great discovery from Fallen Empire Records roster. Not much information is available from this act from Belgium, but I didn't find them on Facebook and they stated that Adversarialism was recorded already a year ago but now it has been given a proper vinyl treatment.
Musically Lvthn plays straightforward and fast black metal with a subtle hint of death metal. What appeals me the most is the great riffing both songs offer: they twist your neck, pump blood back into your veins and carve that air-guitarist from deep within. It is like an oncoming blizzard that swallows you whole and once you are grasping for that last breath of fresh air, you will find redemption in the final hour.
Eos: L'Avalé Demo (Fallen Empire Records)
EOS hails from Québec, Canada and ends my journey on Fallen Empire Records this time. L'Avalé is the demo first demo and they participated in the sampler "SVN OKKLT" which can be downloaded here. Not much information is offered about this mysterious band other than the letters G.. K. and V. as band members.
L'Avalé offers 33 minutes of raw and atmospheric black metal. These guys take their time and build songs slowly from medium paced to full blast and focus on building what seem to be fragile soundscapes at first only to be later destroyed by full scale black metal attack. The songs offer plenty of variation and subtle moments and the shadow play between different moods keep the listener focused and intrigued. Somehow I find similarities in production and vocals to Peste Noire and that is never a bad thing. Highly recommended for open-minded black metal enthusiasts.
